Overview
Nearly half of renters in the U.S. are “cost burdened,” spending more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing, and about one in four renters spend more than 50 percent of their incomes on housing (“severe” cost burden). Cost burden leaves struggling renters with less to spend on other important needs such as healthcare.
This fact sheet examines the use of rent control and rent stabilization policies to stop or slow increases in the price of rent, and whether they, or alternative approaches, are more effective at reducing the number of people considered to be cost burdened.
